Document Fragment View
Fragment Information
Showing contexts for: multiple choice in A. Swapna And Ors. vs Convenor, Eamcet-92, Andhra ... on 16 April, 1993Matching Fragments
2. The petitioners state that as per the instruction booklet issued by the 1st respondent for EAMCET-92 for admission to Medical, Dental etc., colleges in the State of Andhra Pradesh, the question papers would be of objective type (multiple choice and fill up the blanks). Model question paper in Biology, Physics and Chemistry was also given as Annexure-II to the said booklet. Sub-clause (a) of Clause 10 of the said booklet deals with evaluation and states as follows:-
" 10. (a): Evaluation: Every case will be taken in the valuattion, checking, scruntiny, tabulation and ranking. Hence request for retotalling or revaluation or personal identification of scripts will not be entertained."
In that case, the Supreme Court suggested that if text books are prescribed for students desirous of appearing for the combined Pre-Medical test, recurrence of such lapses could be avoided. The Supreme Court also expressed that a system should be devised by the State Government for moderating the key answers furnished by the paper setters and that translation of English questions into Hindi should be done by a translator knowing the meaning of the scientific terminology and the art of translation. As regards the system of multiple choice objective type test, the Supreme Court observed that care should be tat en to see that questions having an ambiguous import were not set in the papers and that the questions should be clear and unequivocal. Finally the Supreme Court also observed as follows :-
11. In G. Nalini v. Director of Medical Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh, . a Division Bench of this Court had to consider the correctness of the key answers to the questions in the question papers for the entrance test for admission to M.B.B.S. /B.D.S. course in the medical colleges in the State. As regards multiple choice questions, this Court observed as follows :-
" One of the important criteria of a good test especially of multiple choice questions is that it should be fairly good at evolving 'discrimination index' which means that it should be able to discriminate students of high ability group' from those of 'low ability group.' For this purpose the frame of the question paper is such that for all questions there will be only one most appropriate answer and the others are merely distractors. The stem of the question precedes the four suggested answers. In the four suggested answers all except one most appropriate answer are distractors. The distractors are so framed so as to enable only a student of high ability to select the correct alternative, i.e., the key answer, while the rest choose the distractors. The distractors can be effective only when they are chosen by only the middle or low ability group students and not by high ability group students. There is likelihood of many students choosing the distractors and only students with full knowledge of the subject choosing the correct answer i.e., the key answer."
47. Before concluding, certain observations have to be noted. Some of the questions and the key answers to them considered by me establish that the examiners, moderators and others concerned with the conduct of the examinations have not taken sufficient care in seeing that the questions are within the syllabi prescribed for Intermediate. This is rather obvious in the case of question No. 9 in the fill in the blanks section of the Physics paper. None of the text books in Physics prescribed for Intermediate deal with 'hysteresis curves'. They are dealt with in the Physics text books prescribed for B.Sc., and Engineering courses. In the case of question No. 10 in the multiple choice section of the Biology paper also I find that the expression' Alecithal' is not used in any of the text books for Zoology prescribed for Intermediate course. Instead 'Homolecithal' and Tsolecithal' expressions are used. Only in specialised books on Embriology this categorisation and nomenclature of the eggs is found. So also in the case of question No. 18 in the fill in the blanks section of the Chemistry paper. In the prescribed text books, the part played by concentrated H2SO4 in the synthesis of esters is stated as that of catalyst only - not as a dehydrating agent also. It may be that the prescribed text books are not upto the mark and that they do not deal with the subjects comprehensively. That is a gap to be filled up by the educationists. The Board of Intermediate Education should take up the matter seriously and see that good text books are chosen and prescribed. Another aspect is that some of the questions chosen are ambiguous like questions Nos. 4, 8 and 23 in the fill in the blanks section of the Biology paper, questions Nos. 18 and 22 in the fill in the blanks section of the Physics paper and question No. 18 in the fill in the blanks section of the Chemistry paper. It is stated by one of the petitioners that none of the choices in question No. 15 of the multiple choice section of the Physics paper is correct and that all were given a mark for that question. This is an unfortunate state of affairs. It may be that even after elaborate care such instances cannot be avoided. A proper corrective is to publish the key answers along with the results so that if any such lapse is pointed out or is detected immediate steps for rectification of the same can be made. I am in agreement with the view of the Himachal Pradesh High Court in Asheesh Sharma v. Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, that the key answers should be published and that immediate steps should be taken if any answer is clearly demonstrated to be wrong or any question is found to be ambiguous and far beyond the scope of the syllabi. The State Council of Higher Education which is entrusted with the constitution of Entrance Test Committee under Rule 10 of the Rules should look into these matters and take appropriate decisions in that regard. As already pointed out by me earlier, under sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education Act, 1988, one of the functions entrusted to the State Council is "to conduct entrance examination for admission to institutions of higher education and render advice on admissions". The State Council owes to the student community to harken to its task of seeing that these examinations are conducted in a manner which infuses confidence in the parents and students alike about their probity and academic rectitude. It begins with the appointment of a conscientious Entrance Test Committee which takes to its duties with all seriousness, and with academic objectivity and impartiality.